


Otabek Altin and Yuri Plisetsky: The Kingdom of Akhenaten

by emeraldonyxdragon



Series: Egyptology AU [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Archaeology, Egypt, Egyptology!AU, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Historical, Humor, M/M, Romance, bigbangonice2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 05:32:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13804476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldonyxdragon/pseuds/emeraldonyxdragon
Summary: Otabek Altin went out into the desert to study hieroglyphs and dig up bones. Then he saw his crush, Yuri Plisetsky. Yuri went out into the desert to dig up bones and learn archaeology. Then he saw Otabek Altin. He was less than impressed.





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Big Bang!!! On Ice with art from the amazing Mikoto! Check it out here: http://wheniseelevimyheartgoesdokidoki.tumblr.com/post/171294884034/for-emeraldonyxdragon-s-egyptology-au-for-the

Otabek got off the plane and shouldering his backpack, he followed the flow of passengers out into the airport. Checking his phone for the umpteenth time, he made his way to the meet up point and looked around. Spotting Prof. Baranovskaya’s severe profile by the baggage claim, Otabek walked up to her and introduced himself.

“Professor,” he held out his hand. Prof. Baranovskaya’s grip was firm and no nonsense.

“Call me Lilia,” she replied. “Formal titles are for pretentious academics.” She looked him up and down. “Otabek Altin I presume?”

He nodded.

“Good. Is that all you brought with you?”

Otabek shook his head.

“Alright.” She gestured to the baggage claim and said, “When you collect your luggage, the group will be waiting over there.” Pointing to a group of students and a balding man who was shouting at them, she sighed. “We are waiting but do not worry, there are still some others who have yet to arrive.”

“Thank you.” replied Otabek. In a few minutes he grabbed his other bag from the revolving belt and made his way to the group. They were all speaking in Russian and turned at his approach. Switching smoothly to English, the silver-haired one held his hand out and greeted Otabek brightly.

“Hi! I’m Victor, Yakov’s teaching assistant and over there is Isabella, she’s Lilia’s TA. If you have any questions about anything please let us know,” Gesturing to everyone in the group, he introduced everyone who was there. “Here’s Yuri, Mila, and Georgi.”

Yuri scowled as he was pointed out and Otabek may have kept his eyes on him for a little longer than was strictly necessary, but then shifted to acknowledge Mila’s cheerful wave and Georgi’s nod. Even after a long flight, Yuri’s hair was bright and his eyes were piercing.

“Otabek Altin,” Otabek replied to the group at large. 

Mila bounced over and cheerfully asked, “What’s your major? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“Near Eastern Languages.”

“Aww, we’re mostly Bioarchaeology here,” Mila said despondently. “It’s fun to see a new face!”

“Though I have no idea why some people would want to take this because of the language and not the bones.” Yuri scoffed from where he was standing. 

“Yuri!” Mila scolded.

Otabek was saved from having to reply by the arrival of a few other students who introduced themselves as Leo, Guang Hong, and Yuuri. Once the whole group was there, Lilia and Prof. Feltsman herded them to the small bus that would take them to the field school.

 

Lilia sat right behind the driver, giving directions while Prof. Feltsman addressed the whole group.

“I know you have all had long flights but after this 4 hour drive we should arrive at Tell Al Amarna by early evening. I am Prof. Feltsman but just call me Yakov here. Up front is Lili-”

“Director Lilia to you,” came the stern voice from the front.

Yakov grimaced but acquiesced. “Director Lilia and I am the Assistant Director. Our assistants are Victor and Isabella.” Each of them waved to the back rows of students. “All you need to know is that tonight we will stay in a hotel at Amarna and tomorrow we will head over to the field school which is a few hours away from the city proper. Hotel dinner is served promptly at 7pm and if you miss it you don’t eat. Once we arrive, wait until I give you your room keys so you can find your room. You will be sharing with at least one other person and I don’t want to hear any complaints. Victor will come by now and collect your passports and visas for the army checkpoints. They will be returned to you once we arrive.” He sat back down. 

Victor made his way down the bus and the students began to quietly converse among themselves. Leo, who was sitting next to Otabek, began to speak.

“Isn’t this so cool? I’ve never been to Egypt before, or out of the country even!” he gushed to his friend. “I’m so glad you’re here; it’s really nice to see a familiar face.”

Otabek nodded in agreement.

“Have you ever been out of the country before?” Leo asked, “Besides America of course.”

“When I was little, my parents took us to Egypt. It was a long time ago so I don’t remember much.”

“I see. But the flight that time must have been shorter at least, coming from Kazakhstan.”

“Not by much but yes, it was more enjoyable.” Leo grinned and then, letting Otabek have some space, turned in his seat to talk to Guang Hong, who was sitting across from him. Otabek heard the usual hometown, major, why did you come here questions, and then tuned him out in order to look out the window. The airport was far from the Nile, but Otabek enjoyed the city scenery until it transitioned into flat desert.

 

Even though there wasn’t much to see because the highway was well traveled, the sandy dunes of the Sahara stretched far into the horizon, the sinking red sun lit the sands with a deep crimson glow that almost seemed to shine and shimmer in the heat. Every now and then the vista was broken by the appearance of small copses of palm trees and rock formations. The exhaustion from the trip finally catching up to him, Otabek let the calm scenery lull him into a doze.

 

He woke as Yakov’s booming voice called out, “We’re here!” and the bus jolted to a stop. Rubbing sleep out of his eyes, Otabek glanced over at everyone else, who had taken advantage of the time and napped as well. Leo yawned and smiled over at Otabek. “That may have not been the best decision for jet lag but I was just so tired, man.”

Otabek agreed. Already he could feel the pull of sleep again but he needed to resist until it was nighttime over here in order to help his body adjust faster. They all trooped out of the bus and grabbed their bags.

Lilia and Yakov led them inside. It was a small hotel but still had its fair share of tourists, easily recognized by the heavy scent of sunscreen, their red faces, and bulky expensive cameras. Weaving expertly through the people Lilia waved her hand behind herself and the group stood to one side of the lobby. It was a small hotel with wooden floors and low furniture, more for reclining than sitting on. Light was provided by flickering chandeliers that imitated candlelight and left the corners of the rooms in deep shadow.

Lilia returned promptly and handed the keys to Yakov who distributed them to everyone. “Breakfast is at 8am. Make sure to be in the lobby at 9 with your keys and luggage to check out and head over to the field site.” Yakov finished with a dry, “see you tomorrow.” Job done, he left the students and headed upstairs.

 

Looking at the tag on his key, Otabek made his way to room 31, absently noting that the number was the same as his birthday. He opened the wooden door, glanced up, and hesitated. It was Yuri Plisetsky.

Yuri looked up from where he had already claimed one of the beds, luggage and clothes strewn on the sheets, surprisingly quickly considering that Yuri must have gotten there right before Otabek. Otabek took a deep breath.

Yuri’s hair was messy, from the long plane trip and bus ride, most likely. He was in the process of changing, with pajamas in one hand and sock-clad feet peeking out from the jeans he was wearing. Meeting Otabek’s surprised face, Yuri nodded at the other door in the room (the bathroom, Otabek presumed) and grabbing a towel from the depths of his suitcase, Yuri went into the bathroom and shut the door. The sound of water softly emanated from the door.

Otabek sighed. So much for talking to his cru-uh, future colleague and fellow student. Otabek brought his stuff in and set it on the other bed. Unzipping his suitcase, he pulled out his pajamas which he had packed last, knowing he would need them immediately, then closed his luggage and set it to one side of the room. He then cast his gaze around the accommodation.

It had simple furnishings, two beds with thin sheets for the heat and gold-colored wallpaper that spanned all four walls. There was a wooden closet; Otabek opened it and noted Yuri had hung an outfit there already, a black t-shirt with the fierce visage of a tiger and dark jeans to match. All that black would not be pleasant in the heat, thought Otabek. Then, he recalled his own wardrobe and decided it would be wise not to mention it.

A short while after, Yuri came out of the shower, clad in pajamas and didn’t even glance at Otabek who was waiting on the bed for his turn to use the bathroom. Standing up, Otabek didn’t say anything and made his way towards the door. Just as he was going to shut the door, Yuri called out.

“By the way, there’s no more dry towels.” Otabek raised an eyebrow in response and poked his head out the bathroom door.

“There’s two towels in here,” he pointed out, the unspoken  _ why did you use both of them _ heavily implied.

Yuri shrugged and pointed at his slightly longer than chin-length hair. Otabek sighed and shut the door. Handsome though Yuri may be, having to use a wet towel was not how Otabek expected this to go. Yuri really didn’t remember him then, Otabek figured.

His older sister’s doubts came to mind,  _ even if you end up talking to him, you know how prickly Yuri is; there’s no guarantee he will want to be friends with you, _ she had cautioned him. Damira was the pragmatic one, while his younger sister, Raisa, was the optimistic one and she had told him  _ just be nice to him, and give him some sweets; everyone loves candy! _ Otabek had nodded seriously at her earnest face but wasn’t quite sure a 10 year old’s advice would necessarily apply in this situation.

By the time he finished showering and brushed his teeth, the light in the main room was off and soft snores could be heard from the other bed. In the dim light from the bathroom, Otabek could make out the bright strands of Yuri’s damp hair spread across the pillow. Otabek turned off the light and quietly made his way to his own bed. Still damp all over because of the lack of dry towels, he eased himself under the sheet and set his phone alarm, double-checking that the phone was set in the right time zone. Turning away from Yuri’s back, he felt himself drop off into sleep.


	2. First Day

A shrill beeping woke Otabek and he blindly stretched his hand out towards the offending noise. Turning off his alarm, he groaned softly and sat up. It was warm, but not yet uncomfortably so. Yellow beams of light shone through the cracks and gaps in the wooden shutters that stretched across both beds. One beam reflected off of Yuri’s blond head, apparently still deeply asleep. Otabek paused for a second, mesmerized by how the blond strands appeared to glow in the early light of morning. But Otabek quickly shook himself out of it, watching people while they slept was inappropriate at best and creepy at worst. And Otabek was not a creep.

There was a half hour before breakfast. Otabek debated waking the sleeping Yuri. If he did and Yuri didn’t want to be woken, Yuri would be upset. But what if Yuri didn’t set an alarm last night and missed breakfast? Then he would be hungry and grumpy, and the professors probably wouldn’t appreciate the delayed start either. Otabek thought while he dressed and got ready for the day. By the time he had put his clothes and pajamas back into his suitcase and was ready head down, Yuri still hadn’t gotten up. Otabek decided that he would rather have an upset Yuri than a hungry and annoyed Yuri so he made his way over to Yuri’s side and softly called out his name.

“Yuri...Yuri wake up. It’s time for breakfast.” Yuri remained fast asleep. Otabek shook his shoulder gently, “Yuri, you should wake up.”

At the movement, Yuri jerked and flailed. Startled, Otabek jumped back and fell back onto his bed. Sitting up, Otabek glanced over at Yuri, who had kicked the sheet off himself and was glaring at him. Otabek gulped.

“It’s nine in the morning Yuri,” he explained. Yuri’s bleary eyes softened from a glare into a considering look.

“I had an alarm set,” Yuri replied and then grabbed his phone. After a few seconds of annoyed tapping, his fingers went still. “Damn time zones.” Yuri looked up, muttered a gruff, “thanks,” and stomped off towards the bathroom.

Having woken Yuri and not wanting to overstay his welcome, Otabek made his way downstairs. Seeing a familiar pile of luggage in one corner of the lobby, he set his stuff there and went in search of breakfast.

 

Otabek sat down at the end of the long table with some of the other students. Yuuri, Isabella, Mila, Leo, and Guang Hong were already there and they greeted him cheerfully as he sat down. Breakfast was a simple affair and Otabek buttered his bread as a nearby waiter poured coffee into his mug.

“You roomed with Yuri, right?” Mila asked him, after he had gotten a few bites in. Otabek nodded. Mila patted him sympathetically on the shoulder, then theatrically drew her hand back, shaking it dramatically. “You’re still damp,” she joked, eyes glinting. “Little Yuri didn’t leave you any dry towels did he?”

Otabek’s eyes widened in surprise and he spoke around a bite of buttered bread, “how did you know about that?”

“I was right!” she grinned and high-fived Isabella, who rolled her eyes but returned the gesture. She leaned forward and spoke in a harsh whisper, “he does that to everybody who rooms with him! That’s why he dashes off to his assigned room so quickly. And if his roommate complains, it often gives him more reason to ask to room by himself during these kinds of trips; he is such a drama queen. If he annoys Yakov enough, then he usually caves, just to save himself the headache.”

Isabella spoke up, interrupting. "He won't get away with it this time though, 'cause Lilia's here."

"Isn't Lilia in charge of the program?" asked Otabek. "Why wouldn't she be here?"

Mila explained, buttering another piece of bread and sprinkling some sugar on it. Isabella scrunched up her nose at the action. "Well, last year we didn't get as many students so we had the space for someone to room by themselves and Lilia ended up arriving late so by the time she got here, Yuri had annoyed Yakov enough that he got the good room. He had also annoyed everyone else who was in the school that year so much that they decided to never come back."

"That's...something," Otabek replied, reluctantly impressed.

"That's Yuratchka for ya," said Mila. She looked up towards the stairs, where a somehow put together Yuri stomped down, combat boots making deep thuds on the wooden floor. "Hey Yuri! Over here!"

Yuri glanced around and his eyes landed on Mila. As he made his way towards them, he caught sight of Otabek and flipped him off.

"Bye girls," said Otabek. Clearly Yuri hadn't forgiven him for this morning, even though it helped him get downstairs in time? Anyway, it was safe to say that Otabek and Yuri's first meeting was something akin to a disaster. Otabek decided that a retreat was best in this case. He got up and left. Mila and Isabella shared a look over his retreating back and Yuri took Otabek's chair and sat down forcefully and reached for some bread.

 

After breakfast, they and their luggage all piled in the van and continued to the site. As the van rumbled beneath the dusty road that turned into a bumpy dirt track, Lilia began to speak.

"We have been given permission from the local governate and some funding from the Supreme Council of Antiquities to work here. This is our sixth field season and conducting a field school helps offset the cost of this dig and our research. The governate pays for the guards and some equipment but your tuition pays for the housing and maintenance. In a few more hours we will arrive and you will settle into your rooms. After a light lunch, you will be given a short tour of the house, the site, and its environs. Luckily for you, the house has WiFi so I'm sure you can keep yourselves entertained until tomorrow, when the real work begins.”

Once Lilia stopped talking, the students quietly began to chat. In the front, two seats behind Lilia and Yakov, Isabella was saying something to Yuuri, who was across the aisle from her. Yuuri was futilely trying to detach himself from Victor, who had wrapped his arms around him like a snake. Isabella giggled behind her hand at their antics.

Behind them were the rest of the Russians. Georgi was scribbling something down in a journal while Mila was facing Yuri's back, braiding his hair around his head like a crown. Otabek watched, mildly fascinated. Yuri's caustic personality, while not wholly surprising, did not make him any less attractive. After capturing fleeting glances of Yuri from across campus for so long, having him so close seemed like a mirage, a dream from which he had yet to wake. Otabek felt a nudge in his side and had the decency to blush at being caught staring.

Leo's eyes twinkled and he raised his eyebrows, "See someone you like?" he teased.

Otabek peeled his gaze away from the Russian section of the bus and answered bluntly and truthfully, as was his wont. "You know I do."

Leo laughed good-naturedly. "I'm always surprised you're so upfront about it."

Otabek was a strict believer in 'honesty is the best policy.' It is much more difficult for others to humiliate you if you are blunt and honest about things. Otabek's lips downturned slightly, his equivalent of a frown as his mind began to reminisce. What happened in the past will stay in the past.

Leo grinned and dropped his voice down to a whisper as he leaned his head towards Otabek's.

"So, when are you going to ask him out?"

Otabek's frown deepened, indicated on his face by a more severe downturn of his lips. On any other person they would look mildly displeased but Leo knew better.

"I don't think he likes me," began Otabek. "He was not a courteous roommate last night and is definitely upset that I woke him this morning."

Nothing in his voice betrayed the disappointment of this first failed meeting but it was obvious that anyone would be unhappy about it.

Leo patted Otabek comfortingly on the shoulder, "Well, we still have four more weeks together so he has all that time to finally fall in love with you."

Otabek shook his head, "He doesn't even remember me. Friendship. Right now, all I want is friendship with Yuri Plisetsky."

Leo poked him playfully, "but we all know friendship leads to..." he trailed off suggestively.

Otabek was displeased at the insinuation, especially because it seemed much easier to get Yuri to like him than to love him since Yuri currently hates Otabek's guts.

 

Even though Otabek was an honest person, he was not without a mischievous streak. He blamed his friend for this, friends like Leo. Deciding that enough attention had been given to the as of yet non-existent relationship between him and Yuri, Otabek stopped whispering.

"Is that why you slept with me Leo?" Otabek replied, and then added, "Oh, hello. Guang Hong, right?" Otabek kept a straight and serious face, meanwhile the other two blushed to the roots of their hair, though on Leo it was harder to see.

"We were drunk and you know it!" Leo defended himself. He then turned to Guang Hong, who looked like he very much regretted trying to talk to them. In an impressive recovery from the embarrassment, Leo turned Otabek away from him with one hand and began small talk with Guang Hong, with only a small stutter that revealed the depths of his embarrassment.

Revenge complete Otabek let his eyes drift back towards the middle seats, where the Russians were. By this point, Mila had finished her braid job and Yuri was admiring himself against the van window. Before he could get caught again, Otabek stared resolutely out the glass as well.

 

After some time, the bumpy dirt road soon gave rise to small ruins that looked liked hills in the distance. They appeared on either side of the small road and were remnants of ancient stone walls that bordered the entrance to the ancient city. Having looked up the site beforehand, Otabek knew that those walls contained the famous boundary stela that the Pharaoh Akhenaten had put up when he established this city as his capital back towards the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty. But the city was short lived, due to Akhenaten’s death roughly 15 years after its establishment. Due to his unpopularity brought on by his religious beliefs, the capital returned to its previous location Memphis upon Akhenaten's burial.

However, this was fortuitous for archaeologists. The city, having only been occupied for 15 years, was abandoned and had been buried by the sands over millennia, which preserved it in the exact state they were when the city was thriving. At this site, there is no interference from any city or town that had existed before or since. Well, until it was rediscovered in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

After nearly an hour, the van went over a wooden bridge that crossed the portion of the Nile in the area. The van drove through and around a few other tourist groups that had also come to visit the site. It was easy to see the field school's accommodations, because it was the only building in sight. The van stopped and everyone got out. Already Otabek could feel sweat beading on his forehead and some of the Russians had already pulled scarves above their heads. There was a guard waiting out in front of the simple building and he walked towards the group with a spring in his step and a big smile on his face.

"This year's fresh meat, right Lilia?" he joked. He surveyed all them and winked at Isabella, who blushed, and nodded in familiarity to the rest of the Russians. He added, "hopefully princess here," he tried to ruffle Yuri's hair who snarled and jumped back, "won't scare everyone away like last year, yeah?"

"Fuck off JJ," spat Yuri.

"Language," reprimanded Lilia. Yuri huffed and scuffed his shoe in the sand. "Everyone," Lilia said, "this is JJ. He will be our guard for the duration of the dig. The dig is not dangerous; it's just a safety precaution and a requirement when working at a govenate-funded dig. He will also be in charge of the weekly van trips into town. Now let's go inside."

She held out her hand and JJ dropped a heavy brass key into it, which she tucked away into a pocket and opened the door. Everyone followed. The small two floor building opened up into a hallway with a stairwell leading up.

Lilia faced everyone. "This house, as you can see, has two floors. The first floor is for me, Yakov, and JJ. Upstairs is the kitchen, sitting room, and your shared quarters. Your names are written on the room you are assigned. Yes, everyone has at least one roommate, no exceptions. The TAs" here she nodded to Victor and Isabella, "get the room next to the kitchen which has no sign on it. Go get your luggage and settle in. In about half an hour Yakov will show you the upstairs and explain the house rules."

That seemed straightforward enough. Otabek went outside with everyone else, feeling slightly like a herded sheep. He then trooped upstairs and looked for his name. A sudden feeling of deja vu came over him as he looked at each of the papers on the room doors. What if he was roomed with Yuri again? It would make this friendship plan much harder if Yuri was antagonistic with him, something guaranteed to happen if they ended up having to share living space again. One night with angry Yuri was enough for him.

Once Otabek spotted his name on the room on the far left, he hesitated for a second then ripped off the bandaid. He read the name below his. It said, 'Leo de la Iglesia.' Still stoic enough to not breathe an audible sigh of relief, a more relaxed Otabek opened the door and made himself at home.

 

The room was small but serviceable. There were two beds with nightstands along one side, a wardrobe on the other and next to the wardrobe was a door that was ajar. It opened up into the bathroom. Otabek picked the bed with the green covers and set his suitcase on top of it. It was close to the middle of the day and even the relative coolness of the house did not completely offset the scorching heat from the outside. Digging outside in this weather will be just as much an exercise in archaeological skill as well as stamina, Otabek figured.

Not too long after, Otabek had quickly hopped in the shower (whose trickle of water dispensed made him really miss his home). Once done Otabek slipped out of the bathroom and found Leo lounging on the other, orange sheeted bed.

Leo gave a lazy grin and stretched out along the bed, making it creak ominously. "Looks like we are roommates again my friend," he chuckled.

Otabek gave a tiny smile back. "It is a preferable arrangement." He agreed. Rubbing his hair dry with his towel he gestured towards the open bathroom door.

"Thanks but no thanks. We have a few minutes before we have too meet up with Yakov so it's not enough time to take a shower." Leo replied.

"it'll probably be shorter than you think," Otabek replied cryptically. If that trickle of water was all he had to look forward to everyday of digging for hours in the sand and dirt, then this was going to be a long four weeks. At least the water was cold though.


	3. Survey

They all met Yakov in the sitting room on the second floor. He gruffly showed them the kitchen, which was self service at all times except for dinner and explained the house rules. Next to the small washer was also a schedule.

"We have four weeks here and plumbing is expensive. Each of you gets two chances to use the washer. I hope you brought enough clothes. If you didn't, I don't care but work it out amongst yourselves. Write your names on the schedule and stick to it." Yakov waited for everyone to nod before he dismissed them. "There's sandwich fixings in the kitchen for lunch." Before they all left he also added one more thing, "Lilia and I are preparing for tomorrow but usually JJ is available for a cursory tour of the site which is something the kids do every year." He left them to their own devices.

 

Soon enough, hungry bodies began a quick and semi-efficient conveyor line. Isabella took charge and got Victor and Mila toasting bread on the electric stove while Yuri, Georgi, and Guang Hong cut up lettuce, tomato, and sliced ham for the insides. Otabek and Leo were in charge of condiments.

They all ended up sitting around the short coffee table in the sitting room and around the floor, eating their sandwiches. Victor grabbed the remote and switched on the tv, finding the one and only channel that was in English. It was playing reruns of a pawn shop show. Victor shrugged, "This is the best we've got guys."

Mila cheered in the background, causing everyone's eyes to swivel towards hers in confusion. Grinning, Mila showed everyone her phone, which had connected to the WiFi. The phone was also chiming with the smiling face of a dark haired woman with purple eyes requesting a Skype. "Be right back guys, that's my girlfriend" Mila said cheerfully and went into her room.

Yuri heaved a great sigh. "Great, she's going to be chatting with Sara for at least the next hour." He pulled out his phone and tapped. "The password hasn't changed from last year, thank god." He glanced at the people who hadn't been there last year, namely Otabek, Leo, and Guang Hong and decided to throw them a bone. "The password's on the house rules page." Yuri said, then proceeded to ignore them and he went back to his phone.

"Thanks," replied Otabek, who by that point had finished his sandwich. He carried his plate back to the kitchen and washed it, setting it to dry on the dish rack. Guang Hong and Leo followed him and did the same.

"Want to go find JJ and ask him to show us around?" piped up Guang Hong, looking at Leo and Otabek. They both nodded and trooped downstairs.

They didn't find JJ in the front of the house so they walked around to the back. Isabella appeared around the corner, running her fingers hurriedly through her hair. She jumped at their approach, clearly surprised.

"Oh! Hi guys," she greeted. "Do you need help with anything?"

"We were just looking for JJ," said Leo. "Yakov told us that he could show us around?" he trailed off slightly.

"Oh, yeah, definitely!" Isabella replied. "Just, uh, give him a second, he'll be right out." She strode away.

"Wait," Guang Hong said almost to himself. "Out from where?"

JJ then came out from around the same corner and the truth hit all three of them in the face, almost blinding them in its intensity. JJ spotted them, adjusting his clothes and greeted them warmly, "Hello!" He looked away towards where Isabella had left and sighed wistfully. "Long distance relationships are so difficult," he mused.

Leo decided to bite the bullet. "Yakov said you could show us around?"

"Of course!" JJ replied, tipping his hat on his head in a way that made him think he looked roguish. Swinging his rifle across his back he gestured them forward. "The walk's not too far and there's only a few interesting things here. You'll definitely learn more about them in class but I can at least show you were everything is."

 

He led them on a little path lined with small remnants of walls to the left of the house. They walked for about 20 minutes, with JJ chatting all the while. He explained that since he was unfamiliar with the history of the area he was guarding, he would just tell them about himself instead.

"So you guys are probably wondering what a handsome Canadian like me is doing in a place like this right?" The thought honestly had barely crossed Otabek's mind but Guang Hong was nodding with a curious expression on his face.

"Well I'll tell you!" JJ explained as they walked. "I was born here to tell you the truth. My parents are Canadian ambassadors to Egypt and I grew up here. Well," he looked around and gestured aimlessly. "Not here, here of course. He pointed vaguely northwards. "I grew up in Cairo. My parents are involved in some sort of Egyptian politics; I never really paid much attention really. I was just always fascinated by the people protecting us and once I finished my schooling I enrolled in guard training and have not regretted it since!"

JJ continued animatedly, "My parents aren't terribly happy with my decision and are hoping that after a few years I will change and get a 'real' job but this is important." JJ's eyes became earnest at this point. "My job is threefold, I protect you guys, I run off grave robbers, and I protect and help preserve these important cultural artifacts! How could that ever not be  important?" JJ's grin turned into more of a wistful smile, "I also met my wonderful Isabella here; how could I ask for anything more?"

Leo and Guang Hong were nodding, at times sympathizing and at other empathizing with JJ's story, especially when he got to the part about a 'real' job. Otabek agreed as well but didn't overtly show it. Archaeology is not a discipline that makes a lot of money, especially with a specialization such as Egyptology, where nearly all the important finds had already been made. Egyptologists still reference texts and writings from the 1920s. However, Otabek, and he was sure that every else also at the field school, is really passionate about Egyptology and about learning more and studying everything from different perspectives, all to expand our knowledge.

The path ended at a medium-sized area, a rectangular pit currently covered in various tarps that were in turn partially buried by sand, set there to protect the dig site between seasons and to decrease the amount of redigging that has to be done each year to get to the layer they stopped at the year before.

"So here's your dig site," JJ stated, waving a hand to encompass the whole area. A small breeze picked up some of the sand and dirt and it swirled lazily around them. A big pile of sand sat to one side, at some distance from the pit, with some wheelbarrows and digging tools next to them. "That'll the your first job tomorrow; getting all the blown sand off the pit and moving those tarps off. I hope you guys brought your muscles," he joked.

Guang Hong looked a little apprehensive but determined. "We can do it," he said confidently.

"That's the spirit!" JJ encouraged him.

Leo just glanced back at Otabek. "At least we won't be weeding," he commented. Otabek inwardly groaned. Last year they had gone to a local field school in the states and the climate had encouraged the rapid growth of various flora that had nearly covered the protective tarps and invaded the edges of their dig site. They, with all the other students, had spend the first few days clearing that all out before they could actually begin digging. It was not an experience that he would like to repeat. On the westerly side of the site there was a large shed. JJ noticed their gazes and explained, "That's where all the equipment is stored."

"Now c’mon, let me show you some of the cooler stuff that the tourists don't usually get access to." He led them around the site to some of the short wall ruins. Walking around them, Otabek, Leo, and Guang Hong followed JJ down to a more excavated section of the city. A lot of the walls were heavily damaged, either by wear, excavation, or removal. A lot of them contained stela, which were stone tablets with text or images engraved on them. Stela were expensive to produce and so usually only kings and nobles had them. If they had enough money then they could pay to construct a stela depicting them in prayer to the gods of that city in remembrance of deceased relatives and family. These tablets were great sources of information about wealthy Egyptian nobles and their relationship with the gods.

The ruins began to look like proper walls that reached up to their chests in some places. JJ pointed out the overhangs that used to house the popular stela, then explained how nearly all of them were excavated and curated either in European museums, or in Egypt.

"Surprisingly there aren't that many stela here," JJ was saying. "You guys will go over this in class I'm sure, but this city was mainly filled with poorer people who were the workers for Akhenaten's building projects. But it kinda just emphasizes how important that Akhenaten dude was at the time, that so many nobles paid exorbitant amounts to have stela built here."

The passed out of that area and a few short minutes later, found some of the tourist groups. They had reached the boundaries of the ancient city, with the most elaborate tombs and the paths up to the famous boundary stela.

"That's what you will be studying for your Egyptian class," added JJ. "Well, once you climb up the cliff a ways. Some of the original stela have been put back, hence all the tourists. Anyway," he pointed back down the road the van had gone through. "This is the way back guys."

 

At the door to the house, JJ said, "Oh right! I'm also in charge of the van rides. Let me explain how those work. So once a week, usually on Friday, I take the van up to the town to stock up on supplies and stuff. If you want to go into town then just hitch a ride. Sometimes students take the whole weekend off and stay up there. The modern town had more food, a few restaurants, and," he paused for effect, "a bar. If anyone decides to stay the weekend then I pick them up on Sunday night so just let me know when you want to go." he finished.

Otabek, Guang Hong, and Leo thanked JJ for the tour and headed back inside the house, sweaty and dusty from that comparatively short time outside.

 

Soon enough it was time for dinner, and they all gathered in the downstairs dining room and ate some delicious curry, rice and bread. Dessert was yogurt, which felt refreshing in the heat. Over dinner, everyone gave proper introductions, telling the others where they were from, which college they went to, and why they chose to study Egyptology.

After dinner, the exhaustion and jet lag set in again and most of the students headed upstairs and straight to bed, regardless of the relatively early hour. Otabek did the same, knowing that he should try to get in as much sleep as possible while he still could. Laying in his bed, he went over the events of the day and was excited at the chance to study hieroglyphics directly from the stela and to learn how to dig up a cemetery. Then his thoughts drifted to Yuri. How on earth could he get Yuri to like him? Fleeting glances from his semester abroad aside, Otabek has never really interacted with Yuri. Then that must be where he must start, Otabek decided. Once he and Yuri got to know each other, then Yuri would dislike him less and they can build a friendship. But only if Yuri wants one, Otabek reminds himself.


	4. Scraping the Surface

Otabek woke up tired still but almost completely recovered from the jet lag. Leo had woken him actually, with his not so quiet morning ritual of physically rolling out of the bed and letting the cold wooden floor wake him. Ah yes, Otabek remembers why he and Leo were only roommates for a year. Even though Leo was technically up first, Otabek still managed to beat him to the bathroom. Feeling much more refreshed, Otabek steps out and let Leo walk past him. Getting dressed, Otabek makes himself some toast for breakfast.

 

Only Isabella and Guang Hong were also up, eating cereal and toast respectively. They nodded a sleepy greeting and Otabek did the same. Everybody else trickled in quietly and soon enough, they all trooped downstairs into the small classroom. It was a small classroom with rectangular tables set in the shape of a square. Lilia was already at the front with a powerpoint loaded up on the screen.

Isabella and Victor went up to the front and began to pass out a thin folder to all the students. Flipping through it, Lilia explained what was inside.

“In that folder you will find our calendar, schedule, and emergency information; don’t lose track of it. As you can see, in the morning we will dig from 8 to 12, with a small tea break at 10. 12 is lunch time and from 1-4pm you will have lessons here. The first hour and a half will be on osteology and the other half on hieroglyphics, taught by Yakov. Today I will give a short lecture and we will have a shortened pre-digging session.” Turning to the powerpoint, she began her introductory lecture.

“Egyptian archaeology is plagued with an elitism problem. Put simply, too much research and digs have been done only focusing on the elites of Egyptian society, the elaborate tombs, the decorated monuments, excetera. The project here is part of the new wave of Egyptian archaeology, studying the non-elite population that also lived in these areas and far outnumbered the elite population.”

The slide changed, showing an aerial view of the cemetery, with faint evidence of ancient roads and the remains of the workman’s village nearby.

“The cemetery we are excavating is a worker’s cemetery, according to Egyptian records of the area...and the fact that we found a bunch of non elite burials once we started digging.” Lilia added dryly. “By digging here, we hope to learn about the lives of the people who were brought to this city to help build the tomb complexes and buildings of Amarna. Previous excavations have turned up the remains of about 230 individuals, a significant portion of them incomplete due to grave robbers. Often they just scattered bones across the desert so it is not uncommon to come across an isolated skull at some distance from the cemetery. If you do find one, let us know so we can record it.”

The slide now showed some pictures of isolated skulls and mandibles, nowhere near the actual cemetery.

“Another interesting thing about this cemetery is the abnormally high number of young individuals and high number of pathological specimens found. Now, can you think of possible reasons why a death assemblage would have high numbers of young individuals present?”

She glanced around the room when no one immediately responded, until a voice spoke up.

“Disease?” said Mila. Lilia nodded.

“Yes, that is what we are currently suspecting, but not all diseases leave marks on bone. This is where historical evidence would come in handy, for example, one that described an epidemic in this region during the time the city was active. Anyway, we will go over that more in the osteology classes. Now, it’s time to go outside. Leave your bags here but bring water.”

“Don’t forget hats and sunscreen!” piped up Victor. As everyone got up and got ready to go outside, Victor sidled up to Yuuri and started slathering his face with sunscreen. “Here you go, Yuuri, you know you burn like a lobster.”

“Victor! You’re embarrassing me!” insisted Yuuri.

“No one’s even looking!” replied Victor offhandedly. When he looked over at the rest of the group, who had been avidly watching the display, all their heads swiveled away from the amusing scene. Victor raised a suspicious eyebrow but continued his work.

Sharing a bottle, Leo and Otabek passed it between them as they reached the dig site. As soon as they had finished, the bottle was snatched out of Leo’s hand.

“Hey!” he protested, trying to grab the bottle back. Yuri, who had taken the bottle, jumped nimbly out of the way of Leo’s grasping hands. “Otabek, help me out here!”

Otabek leveled a look at Yuri.

“Mila wouldn’t let me borrow hers.” Yuri said.

Otabek quickly glanced over at Mila, who was ahead of them. She turned around and winked at him. He sighed internally.

“Let him have it Leo,” said Otabek.

“Fine,” Leo replied. He fell back to chat with Guang Hong, who was chatting with Georgi.

Crush or not, “You’re welcome,” prompted Otabek, after Yuri handed the bottle back without a word.

“Yeah, thanks, or whatever,” said Yuri, and he continued to quietly walk alongside Otabek.

 

Maybe now was his chance. He stole a glance at Yuri, who was squinting in the strong sunlight and frowning. Or...maybe not. Otabek decided to keep quiet and they finally reached the dig site.

 

Like he had seen with Leo and Guang Hong, a few large tarps obscured the site. The tarps were weighed down with rocks and a mix of sand and dirt, most likely from the previous season’s excavation. A short distance away was also a small wooden shed. Lilia and Yakov emerged from it, carrying shovels and buckets. Victor and Isabella followed, with a few wooden planks and a wheelbarrow.

Lilia quickly and efficiently assigned everyone a job though there were only two main ones at this point. Mila was in charge of the wheelbarrow. Everyone else had to fill their buckets with dirt and put them in the wheelbarrow so Mila could dump it in the excavated dirt pile a short distance away. Once she had done two runs, they would trade off.

Everyone carefully hopped into the pit which had a small set of stairs carved on its side. Isabella and Victor laid down the wooden planks on the stairs so the wheelbarrow could go into and out of the pit. Then they began.

Even though it was still relatively early in the morning, it was still very warm. The only relief was the dry climate, which quickly wicked off the sweat the students began to build up. The pile of dirt still in the pit seemed endless. 

When it was Otabek’s turn to push the wheelbarrow, he almost couldn’t get it up the wooden ramp. But he managed, and didn’t even let the wheelbarrow tip, unlike when it was poor Guang Hong’s turn. The wheelbarrow fell over and spilled all the dirt that had to be recollected. The temperature only got worse as the hours crawled towards noon. 

“Don’t forget to take frequent water breaks!” reminded Yakov, as Georgi began to sway a bit. “Come here and sit in the shade a bit Georgi,” ordered Yakov. “It’ll be very inconvenient if you pass out on us.”

While the students worked, Lilia and Yakov had pulled out a collapsible shelter that would provide some shade from the heat. Inside, they were reviewing maps of the site.

“They’re doing better than last year’s group,” Yakov said.

“Seeing as half of them were here last year, they’d better be,” replied Lilia. She surveyed the hardworking students. “But yes, they are better.” Checking her watch, she called out, “Time for a break! Come inside and sit in the shade. I expect your stamina to improve if you want to become an efficient archaeologist.”

Victor, Mila, Yuri, and Leo groaned audibly at the chance for a break and gathering their warm water bottles, the whole sweaty group of students stumbled inside. Lilia and Yakov left, with scrunched noses at the sweat they brought with them. Checking on their work, the students had managed to get rid of most of the dirt protecting the excavation site.


	5. Trowel, Toil, and Trouble

“We should be able to begin on schedule.”

“They can probably finish today. Yakov, don’t take them out until they’re done.” While the students were resting, Lilia tutted. “They even left the full wheelbarrow in the pit.” With a surprising show of strength, she casually pushed the wheelbarrow up and dumped the dirt on the waste pile. Returning to the site, she began to fill a bucket.

“Huh,” commented a surprised Guang Hong.

“Oh yeah, Lilia does that sometimes,” commented Isabella, moving to gulp water while standing next to Guang Hong. “She’s usually too busy overseeing, but she believes in participating in every part of the process.” After a pause, “we also all smell so I don’t think she wants to be in here either.” They both laughed.

Otabek wiped the sweat off his forehead and replaced his sweaty hat back on his head.

“Ow!” he jumped when someone poked him in the back. That really hurt!

“You’re smiling” Yuri said gruffly, thrusting Otabek’s sunscreen at him. “Here, before it gets any worse.”

Otabek looked back at him, confused, and then gently touched his lower back. It was warm to the touch and he could feel the heat rising from it. Oh no. Otabek needed to confirm.

“Hey Leo, can you look at my back for a second?”

“Sure. Um, Otabek, you have an archaeologist’s smile…”

“Great.”

“Yeah man, here, I’ll help you.”

“Thanks Leo”

“It is looking like a nice smile though,”

Otabek tried to glare at Leo over his shoulder as he carefully applied sunblock to the small strip of skin above Otabek’s pants. Otabek hissed as it aggravated his sensitive, now mildly sunburned skin. But it would be worse if he didn’t protect it now.

“You know you’re an archaeologist when…” Leo teased. “ It really does have the shape though. Here, all done. Mind checking my back for it too?”

“No problem.”

Otabek added some sunscreen to Leo’s back, though his slightly longer shirt and more tanned skin had protected him a bit better. Either way, they soon headed back out, not wanting to annoy Lilia.

 

By the time it was noon and Lilia had called them out again, this time for lunch. There were but a few pockets of dirt left, easily taken care of tomorrow by simply lifting the tarps.

“Good job,” said Lilia.

Guang Hong cheered, “Yay the hard part is over!” causing Lilia to laugh. If he thought that was hard, then Guang Hong was going to have a lot of fun tomorrow.

The students gave each other slightly concerned looks but high-fived each other anyway. A victory was a victory after all. Then they all went into the large tent for lunch. Yakov had brought back a few bags and Isabella and Victor quickly set up the food.

“Man, I’m so hungry!”

“Ah, these sandwiches are so nostalgic,” Mila commented to Yuri, who grumbled as he cut his bread. “Here,” he said roughly, shoving an end piece at Mila. She grinned. End pieces were her favorite.

After assembling their sandwiches, they all sat at a long plastic table and chatted while eating.

“After this,” Yakov said. “We’ll go inside for a little bit and then have a field trip in the an hour before dinner. I will take you up to Akhenaten’s stela, the one that we will be studying and translating in class.”

Otabek grew a little excited, though outwardly there was no sign. He loved hieroglyphics. Even though they were very difficult to learn, it was just amazing to think about how people learned to read signs written thousands of years ago and how each glyph contributes to an Egyptian word, thought, or idea.

Yakov led them back to the classroom while Lilia, Isabella, and Victor stayed behind.

“So, how many of you have studied the Egyptian language or hieroglyphs before?”

The Russians and Otabek raised their hands.

“Middle Egyptian yes?”

They all nodded.

“Good. It will help you for Late Egyptian which is the focus of this class. As for you two,” he glanced at Leo and Guang Hong. “You will have to catch up relatively quickly and be sure to ask me if you have any questions.”

After a short lecture, they all headed out to hike up to the boundary stela. It was situated up on the surrounding cliffs of the city. The cliffs were made by centuries of erosion from the Nile floodplain and marked the boundary of the city and protected it somewhat from the sandy winds of the desert. JJ met them at the door of the building and followed. He looked a little disappointed that Isabella wasn’t there with them but took it in stride and lead the rear of the group.

“Aw man,” Leo said. “Otabek, do you think you can tutor me in Egyptian so I can get caught up faster?”  
“Me too please!” piped up Guang Hong. “When Yakov started going on about all the differences between Middle and Late Egyptian, I got so lost.”

They started heading up the cliff face.

“Not that I know that much,” Otabek said. “But I can try to go over what I know. The syllabic orthography that Yakov mentioned sounded super interesting though I can see how it can become really complicated.”

“Besides learning the ‘alphabet’” Leo inserted careful air quotes around that word. “We then have to learn all these possible exceptions that are written with even more characters.” He groaned. “And that’s just the beginning.”

“It’s fun though” Otabek said.

Leo raised an doubtful eyebrow.

 

After some walking, they finally made it up the winding cliff path and reached the stela. It was a large carving set right into the jagged wall, about 2 meters tall. The top and bottom parts were heavily damaged and cracked, almost obscuring the lunette, the half moon shaped upper part that contained pictorial representations of the pharaoh. The rest of the carving was full of hieroglyphs arranged in parallel lines. Looking at the direction all the bird glyphs were facing, Otabek noted that the stela was read from left to right, which was not uncommon in Egyptian. The language direction often varied, depending on the scribe and how they wanted the finished text to look.

But wow, it was impressive. Reaching over their heads, each undamaged glyph was clearly legible even though it was carved thousands of years ago.

“I’m showing you guys this stela,” explained Yakov. “So you can try to understand the scale and impact of the message written into it. After we translate it, of course. This stela was one of the first things travelers saw when they came, plus this view." Yakov turned and waved a hand at the vista behind them.

 

When Otabek turned around, he almost gasped. Standing on the sand-colored rocky crags, the contrast with the brilliant green of the flooding farmland of the modern city was almost magical. Stretched out before them was the deep sapphire blue of the Nile, winding its way north to what used to be known as Lower Egypt. Along its banks were the verdant green crops that sustained this region. The land changed from uniform farmland to a thick, uneven line of trees that ended abruptly as the sandswept desert took over again. Interspersed and out on the fringes of the desert were some small structures that were most likely buildings, though their light colors helped them blend better with the surrounding desert.

“Wow,” breathed Georgi, who was standing next to Otabek.

The students took pictures and Yakov walked them back down.

“You always imagine, or better said, stereotype Egypt as dusty desert but sometimes forget the Nile creates green huh?” Guang Hong was telling Leo, who nodded enthusiastically.

“Right?” They both looked out at the view again, only slightly less impressive now due to their changing vantage point. “Ah, it’s so cool. And here I thought the coolest thing I would see is a weird skeleton,” joked Leo. Guang Hong laughed and playfully smacked Leo’s shoulder. Leo dramatically winced, “That hurts! I’m sunburned you know!”

“No you’re not,” Guang Hong said.

“Am too!”

“Are not!”

They continued to playfully bicker down the hill. Behind them, Otabek walked silently while Mila and Georgi were commenting on how the view never became less awe-inspiring. In the back, Yuuri and Victor were flirting and giggling quietly.

“Oh, look at us,” Victor exclaimed. “Poor wilting desert flowers.”

“We wouldn’t be wilting if you had brought some more water like I said,” Yuuri pointed out. “Put your hat on properly, and besides, neither one of us is from any sort of desert.”

“But you didn’t deny the flower part.”

“Well, that’s because it’s true.” Yuuri began to list things off with his fingers. “First of all, you are beautiful, needy, and need constant watering.” He adjusted Victor’s had around his head. Victor was beaming and Yuuri gave a mock exasperated sigh. “C’mon I don’t want to deal with lobster Victor this summer too.”

They got back without incident, aside from Yuri getting into an argument with JJ and the former pushing the latter into the excavated dirt pile from earlier. Yakov grumbled but let it slide, muttering under his breath to himself. Otabek made himself a mental note to thank Yuri for the sunblock reminder. But he would talk to Yuri later, maybe when Yuri was less angry. And not in the vicinity of JJ.

 

As amazing as the view from the clifftop was, Otabek wanted to come back at night. If it looked that great during the day, how would it look with the bright moonlight reflecting off the water and with all the stars in the sky? The sky must be incredibly bright here, away from the smog and pollution of more populated areas. Maybe even Otabek could see the Milky Way. Maybe he could bring Yuri with him to see said Milky Way. He bet the stars would look even brighter reflecting in Yuri’s eyes. Distracted, Otabek stumbled on the stoop as they all made their way back to the house for dinner. Shaking his head to clear out farfetched thoughts, Otabek went to help with dinner. It was his turn today.

At dinner, which consisted of rice, chilled legumes, and roasted duck, plus a salad (Otabek’s contribution was to cut the ingredients for said salad), everyone introduced themselves more formally. Even though they all attended the same university, their differing courses and years of study made for interesting conversation. 

Otabek mostly kept quiet and concentrated on his food. The work of the day and the hot sun was exhausting and his social quota was almost filled for the day. Sitting at one end of the table, with Leo and Yuri on either side, the dinner went by quickly. Leo skillfully deflected conversations from Otabek and Yuri kept to himself, only occasionally stealing small glances towards Otabek, who didn’t notice.

Towards the end of the meal when they were all munching on fruit, Otabek subtly leaned over and quietly spoke to Yuri.

“Thanks,”

Yuri glanced at him, surprised. Clearly context was needed.

“For the sunscreen.” Otabek said.

“Right,” said Yuri. He flicked some hair out of his face and took a big bite out of his apple. “It’s no big deal,” he replied, vaguely unintelligibly.

Otabek nodded. This second conversation went by much better than the first.

 

Lying in bed that night, Otabek let a quiet smile out into his pillow, away from Leo’s sleeping form. Not like Leo could see in the dark but it didn’t hurt to be careful. His short chat with Yuri, (was it even long enough to count as a chat?) was very encouraging. Otabek let himself daydream a little. He could take Yuri out to watch the stars over the Nile, and maybe even a camel ride. Otabek had never ridden a camel but had seen a few stands advertising camel rides for groups and couples. Maybe a short ride on the river? They had Sundays free for rest and/or exploration. Otabek drifted off to sleep with faint visions of golden hair amongst golden sands.

 

The next morning, Otabek stumbled off his bed, his muscles aching. Today’s work should be easier right? Rubbing his aching arms, Otabek repeated his breakfast and made quiet greetings to everyone else who came in.

They walked down to the site together. Lilia and Yakov were already there, having reset the marking pegs and the lines that marked the boundaries of the site and were used for measuring. Next to the site were a line of buckets, knee guards, trowels, and gloves, presumably for the students. JJ was nearby and cheerfully waved to them and continued on his patrol.

Lilia split them into pairs and set them to work. Otabek ended up in a trio with Mila and Isabella. They each pulled on some gloves, grabbed a trowel and bucket, and got to work. Isabella and Mila quickly began to chat and Otabek was happy to observe and then mimic their actions. It was his first time at a dig, after all.

“Ready for the backbreaking labor?” Mila joked.

“Just when you thought we were all done yesterday,” Isabella added, glancing over at the quiet Otabek. “Now this is real archaeology.” Sticking the sharp end of the trowel into the dirt, Isabella then levered the handle and the clod of dirt popped of out the ground. Breaking the lump in her fingers, the resulting dirt went into the waste bucket.

“Any advice?” said Otabek. He may as well ask.

“Go in as straight a line as possible,” Isabella said. “It looks much nicer and is more organized. Don’t forget to sift through the really big lumps in case you find something. Besides bones, there can also be small tablets that they used as headstones, kind of. It’s a little odd to compare it to a modern equivalent.”

“Don’t forget to switch your trowel hands, especially you Yuri!” Lilia called out from the other side of the site.

“It slows down the arthritis you’ll develop in your hands,” Isabella added under her breath. “Also, only do a few centimeters at a time and keep it as level as possible.” She pointed at the small area she had cleared. “Here, start from here and keep this as even as possible and follow it down the wall of the site.”

Otabek nodded kneeled down where Isabella was. He stuck the trowel into the dirt and pried another chunk off. Huh, was there something here? He stared at the small lump he had uncovered. Nah, it was just a weird rock. He got back to work.

 

On the other side, Yuuri and Yuri were excavating a slightly raised area that was unfinished from last year.  
“I really think there’s something here Yurio,” Yuuri said.

“Stop calling me that!” Yuri stabbed the dirt violently and felt something crack, “Fuck!”

“Did you find something?”

“Fuck,” Yuri repeated. He carefully moved some of the dirt away and groaned. “It’s a skull. Dammit.”

Yuuri glanced at him empathetically. “Well, it’s not like you knew it was there.”

Yuri glared. “That’s the whole point.”

“I’ll call Lilia over.”

“Argh,” Yuri, being more careful, started to expose more of the skull. Of course he shattered it. It was not uncommon, but certainly not something to be proud of. Doing his best not to disturb anything further, Yuri continued to work.

Lilia came over and the rest of the students glanced up curiously but didn’t move from their assigned spots.

“Good, we figured there was another burial here but we didn’t have time to excavate it properly last year.” She critically examined the few exposed skull shards that Yuri unearthed, without touching them. “Unfortunate. Continue. Yuuri, come down here and dig around here; see if you can find the rest of the body. Everyone else, continue where you are.”

 

“Otabek, you’re so quiet,” Mila shifted back and began to continue to expose the corner that they started digging from. She stuck the tip of her trowel on the lip she had made and then compared it to Isabella’s depth. When the points didn’t match up, she groaned and began to scrape the ground to flatten it out.

“Don’t force him to talk if he doesn’t want to,” responded Isabella.

“I speak when there’s something to say.”

Mila pouted. “Fine.” She looked up at Otabek’s cleared area which understandably, was smaller than both hers and Isabella’s. “I think your line is getting a little crooked Otabek.”

He nodded and with a serious face, switched his trowel hand and continued his work. After 2 hours of work, Yakov called a tea break. He had only managed to clear a small 2 meter square that whole time. Groaning softly, Otabek struggled to stand after kneeling on the ground for so long. He wasn’t the only one having trouble, though Victor and Yuri both sprang up like their knees were made of rubber. Victor bounced over and pulled Yuuri to his feet. Holding his hand, he dragged him over to the tent and began to make tea. Otabek, Leo, and Guang Hong carefully staggered out of the pit. Stretching their legs, they also joined in for the break.

“Ah, it’s so nice to be out of the sun,” Guang Hong said.

“It’ll only get worse from here though,” Georgi added pessimistically.

Guang Hong groaned in response.

Victor was grilling Yuuri about the new burial he found.

“It was all Yuri really,” Yuuri insisted.

“What else have you found? I couldn’t look over because I was too far away and Yakov was being mean.”

“Just some of the ribs; they’re in terrible condition though. It’s going to take forever to expose them for the photo.”

“My Yuuri, I’m sure you’ll do an excellent job!” Victor leaned over and hugged Yuuri.

“Victor! I’m all sweaty!”

On the other side of the table, Otabek looked away and caught the look of exasperation on Yakov’s face.

“All the time with these two,” he was muttering.

Next to him, Yuri tapped furiously on his phone. Luckily, the wifi from the house extended to the tent, although the connection was slow.

“Did you find anything yet Otabek?” Leo asked.

Otabek took a sip of his tea. It was warm but the soft desert breeze helped. He shook his head. Leo clapped him on the back in empathy. “Us neither. Victor said the site was teeming with burials and it was only a matter of time.”

“It is a little unrealistic to find something after two hours of digging,” Otabek pointed out.

“Don’t come at me with your logic!” Leo protested.

There was a quiet scoff from across the table and they both looked up to see Yuri bury his face behind his phone. Leo childishly stuck his tongue out at him. Otabek spared a moment to wistfully imagine digging next to Yuri. He as sure it wouldn’t be as fun as he imagined but still.

 

Too soon for the students’ liking, the break was over and they all went back to work. Lilia quickly reassigned groups and areas and beckoned Otabek and Yuri over to work on the exposed skeleton.

Carefully kneeling back on the ground on top of the foam knee guard, Otabek switched out his trowel for smaller tools and continued to expose the skeleton Yuri had found. Lilia focused on the ribs and by following the line of the body, Otabek worked around the emerging long bones. They were easier to expose because it was just the femur and then the tibia and fibula. Otabek wondered idly if he would find the patellas too.

After a while, Otabek snuck a glance over at Yuri. He was intensely focused on his task, hovering over the broken skull and switching between wooden tools and a brush to take the dust off the bone.

“Don’t undercut the skull too much,” cautioned Lilia.

Yuri nodded and shifted, dislodging a small pile of dirt and rocks by his feet. A raspy sound was heard and a snake rose out of the sand, scales shifting rapidly. Otabek, Lilia, and Yuri froze in horror.

Ah, so that’s a horned viper, Otabek thought absently. It was one of the deadliest snakes in Egypt and must have crawled into the small pile of sand and dirt during their break.

“Yuri, do not move,” warned Lilia, not shifting an inch from her crouched position. “There is a snake behind you.”


	6. The Snake Incident

Yuri froze, eyes wide and still awkwardly half-kneeling on the ground. There was no way he could scramble out of the way in time. Everyone else was also frozen, helpless and staring with wide eyes. Otabek was the closest person but what could he do? The raspy noise of the snake’s scales sliding over each other seemed to get louder and louder.

Otabek did the only thing he could do. As fast as he could, he stuck his foot out towards the snake and kicked upwards and outwards. Victor screamed and covered Yuuri’s eyes. Yuuri peeked out from the gaps between his fingers anyway. Yuri flinched and leapt over the skeleton, landing in Lilia’s arms.

With his movement, the snake launched itself at Otabek. His kick launched the snake up and it sailed out of the pit, startling Yakov who happened to be nearby as well. Otabek slowly lowered his foot and turned to look at everyone else, shocked that his foolhardy action actually worked. The snake tried to bite him, but he didn’t feel any different. But more importantly-

“Are you okay?” he asked Yuri.

Danger averted, Yuri jumped back over the skeleton and grabbed Otabek’s foot. Even with a near death experience, Yuri was still protecting the archaeological material. The still slightly panicked part of him wanted to laugh at the thought. 

“What do you mean am I okay? Are you okay? It totally got you!” Twisting Otabek’s thick boot from side to side, Yuri was stunned. “I-I saw it get you, right?”

Otabek leaned over, panting slightly from the adrenaline rush. “I thought it did…Oh. There.” He pointed. Near the toe of his boot were two very small holes through the thick leather.

“We need to get you to a hospital! C’mon get up!”

Otabek laughed. “I didn’t think that would work.” He tapped the toe of his boot. “It’s steel toe; I’m fine.”

At Yuri’s disbelieving stare, Otabek took off his shoe in front of everyone, who had crowded around them both at this point. His sock was bright blue and completely unmarked, if a little sweaty from being inside the boot.

“Holy shit,” Yuri sat back on his heels. “That was so badass!” His eyes were shining and Otabek had a hard time looking away. Among everyone else’s similar exclamations of surprise and awe, Lilia came over and suspiciously poked the small pile of dirt with a meter-long ruler. Satisfied that there were no more snakes, the turned to the rest of the group.

“Who said you could stop working?” The students, except for Yuri and Otabek scrambled back into position. Lilia kneeled down and examined Otabek’s foot. He squirmed, uncomfortable and embarrassed.

“I’m fine, really.”

Lilia turned her glare to him and he flinched. It was almost as bad as the snake. Scratch that, the snake would kill him faster; this was worse than the snake.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“Do not apologize for saving someone’s life,” Lilia admonished. “Apologize for being reckless and endangering your own.”

“Sorry,” Otabek repeated.

She patted his foot. “You can put your shoe back on and take a short break if you wish.” 

She turned. “Now as for you, Yuri.” She pointed to where the snake had come from. “Why is that there? Excavated dirt goes in buckets that are dumped away from the site. This is especially important in areas where snakes are common.” Lilia stood, brushing dirt off her knees. “As punishment, you will assist with dinner for the rest of the week.” When Yuri didn’t look sufficiently chastised, she added, “And you will no longer work on this skeleton; I will have you dig somewhere else.”

“That’s not fair!” protested Yuri. The dinner wasn’t that big of a deal but the excavation experience was so valuable.

“Yuri,” Lilia leaned down so she was eye level with Yuri, who had sprung up when Lilia decided the punishment. “I do not believe you quite understand the gravity of what just happened. If Otabek hadn’t done such a reckless thing, you would most likely be writhing in agony due to a poisoned snake bite. There are no hospitals nearby and you would have died. And all because of your carelessness. Now go switch places with Leo.”

Yuri grumbled but did as he was told, moving into Leo’s spot none too gently after he got rid of the dangerous dirt pile. Otabek put his shoe back on and got his tools out, continuing where he had left off.

 

Otabek dreaded lunchtime. It came all too soon, and with it, all the other student’s curiosity. So many people wanted to look at his shoe that he finally took it off and resigned himself to not leaving his seat until he got it back.

“Why on earth did you kick the snake? Weren’t you nervous?” asked Georgi.

“I think you gave Yakov a heart attack!” added Victor.

Yakov grumbled from the other end of the table. “You would freak out if a snake had come flying out of the pit at you too.”

“I wasn’t thinking and my body just...reacted.” Otabek tried to explain. All he knew was that he wanted to protect Yuri and that was the only thing that occurred to him. Honest though he was, even he knew the folly of revealing that he only did that for Yuri. If it had been anyone else, Otabek wasn’t sure he would have reacted as quickly.  
Leo eyed Otabek suspiciously but didn’t say anything. Otabek knew that Leo was going to insist on a full explanation once they were back in the room.

“That’s extremely lucky though. What are the chances that the snake bit the only part of the boot its fangs could not pierce?” said Isabella. “JJ says bites from horned snakes are extremely painful.”

Victor nudged Yuri. “Hey, I don’t think you’ve even thanked your savior yet!”

“It’s fine,”

“Shut up old man! I’ll thank him when I want to!” Yuri glared into his phone but his eyes softened when he glanced up at Otabek. Otabek gave the smallest of smiles back and Yuri quickly looked down at his phone again.

Yuuri grabbed Victor’s other arm and distracted him. “Anyway, that was very impressive and commendable Otabek. Thank you for saving Yuri.”

Otabek shook his head. “I just reacted; I’m glad it helped though.”

“You’re so badass!” said Leo.

“Like Indiana Jones!” piped up Guang Hong.

“Should we call you Indy now then?” said Victor pensively.

“Wasn’t Indiana Jones scared of snakes?” Georgi said quietly, so no one heard him or paid attention.

“Indy! Indy! Your new name is Indy!” chanted Mila.

Otabek rolled his eyes but did not protest. He was sure any verbal opposition would fall on deaf ears. Though to be fair, being nicknamed after Indiana Jones was not the worst that could have happened.

In the hieroglyphics class, Yakov ran them through their paces, rushing through a thorough review of Middle Egyptian in order to prepare for Late Egyptian. Quickly realizing that even the students from last year didn’t remember much, he sighed and resigned himself to slowing down his lesson plan. The students left that class feeling mentally wrung out and drained like a sponge.

“Hey Otabek, mind tutoring me in this hieroglyphics stuff?” Leo rubbed the back of his head. “It’s so hard to memorize; have any tricks?”  
“Oh! Me too!” chimed Guang Hong.

“I don’t know about ‘tricks’,” Otabek said carefully. “But I can review the basic signs with you?”

“Thank you so much!”

“After dinner then?”

“Sounds good to me, thanks Otabek!”

 

After dinner, Yuri went into his room and locked the door behind him. Pulling out his phone, he called Grandpa Nikolai, like he did every week when he was away.

“Yuratchka! How nice to hear from you, how have you been?” Nikolai’s voice boomed from the small phone speaker.

Yuri grinned in response and rolled onto his front. “Hi Grandpa! I’m fine. I already found another burial on our first day of actual digging too!”

“Ah, of course you did. I am so proud of you, Yuratchka.”

Yuri furrowed his brow. “I am sorry about the money-” he began to apologize.

“My lovable grandson, it is not a problem, don’t worry about this old man. I am actually having fun at this new job, though the computer still gives me trouble sometimes.”

“Soon! I’ll graduate soon and then be able to support you, I swear!”

“Just make sure you have fun too, okay? How are your classmates?”

“Well, boring as usual. Most of the people who were here last year are here again, including Mila, Victor, and Yuuri.” Yuri said, absently kicking his feet up in the air.

“Oh! Well, there is this one guy...It was so cool Grandpa! One of the new students, Otabek, kicked a poisonous snake out of the excavation site today!”

“That sounds very dangerous,” replied Nikolai, looking very concerned.

“He kicked it away before it bit me-” Yuri cut himself off but it was already too late.

“Before it what?!” Nikolai’s voice rose and Yuri jumped. “I will speak to your professor or whoever is in charge, right now.”

“No no no no no, it’s fine, I swear!” Yuri hastened to say.

“No! It is not alright. Security and safety must be very lax if this was allowed to happen,” Nikolai replied angrily.

Yuri sighed and dropped his head. He mumbled into the pillow, “It was actually my fault…”

“Yuratchka…” Nikolai said warningly.

Yuri raised his head and looked at his Grandpa straight in the eye. “It was me. I was careless and did not clean up the site like I should have so the snake got in. But I’ll be way more careful in the future!”

“Yuratchka…” Nikolai repeated, this time said with exasperated affection. “Please be careful. I don’t know what I would do if you got hurt.”

“I will, I don’t want to worry you.”

“So this, Otabek you said? Saved you from the snake? Have you thanked him yet?”

Yuri avoided looking at Nikolai’s eyes, “Well, I was going to but then Victor-”

“Ah ah ah, don’t blame others for your mistakes. That boy saved your life; that kind of thing cannot really be repaid but a genuine and sincere thank you will go a long way. Make sure you do that, okay?”

“Yes, Grandpa.”

“Good boy.” They both smiled at each other.

“Anything else you want to tell me?”

“Victor and Yuuri and being gross as usual?”

Nikolai laughed. “It is difficult to understand if you have not yet fallen in love. But if you do fall in love, you will understand why they act that way, even if you do not do so yourself.”

“Fine,” replied Yuri. “I love you Grandpa; say hi to Potya for me.”

“I love you too, Yuratchka. And I will.”

The call disconnected. Yuri went off in search of Otabek to thank him properly.


	7. The Aftermath

In Otabek and Leo’s room, Otabek was reviewing the alphabetic Egyptian characters with Leo and Guang Hong. Otabek was sitting on his bed and the other two were on Leo’s, notebooks at the ready.

“Alright, teach us the alphabet! It didn’t make sense when Yakov explained it earlier,” said Leo.

“It’s not an alphabet,” said Otabek. Guang Hong looked confused. “An alphabet means that each of the characters make up every single word. That’s not how it works in Egyptian. There are a number of very common characters that represent a single sound and that is usually the first set of hieroglyphs students memorize. That is what we are going to review today.”

Leo and Guang Hong nodded.

“Okay, the first one is called aleph, it represents a falcon. It is distinguished from the other birds by the sharp corner of the back of its head.” Otabek slowly drew it, emphasizing the sharp head shape. “It’s transliteration is just an a. You need to transliterate everything before you translate it.” Otabek glanced up and at their still confused faces he explained. “Because the hieroglyphs can represent different sounds or ideas, transliterating helps organize them and helps understand the grammar. Does that make sense?”

“Seems a little tedious, but sure,” Leo said agreeably. He copied Otabek’s bird, creating a slightly wonky falcon. “Like this?”

“Sure. Okay, the next one is a reed, like the plant…”

The door behind Otabek opened quietly, Yuri peered in and saw the impromptu tutoring session. He was about to close the door when Guang Hong looked up.

“Oh, hi Yuri!” he called out cheerfully.

Otabek jumped and turned around. He looked at Yuri with mild surprise. “Yes?”

Yuri was still half in and half out the door. He fidgeted and then came in and shut the door behind him. Leo grabbed Guang Hong and they faced away from Yuri and Otabek, bending over their notebooks to give them a semblance of privacy. Yuri walked up to Otabek’s bed. 

“I just wanted to say, thanks. Thank you, for saving my life earlier.”

“Oh, of course.” Otabek replied. “Anytime.”

“Really?” Yuri decided to try to tease Otabek and see his reaction. The fact that Otabek saved him notwithstanding, Otabek seemed a lot less boring than everyone else at the dig and Yuri wanted to get to know him better. “So, if I bring in another snake you’ll dropkick that one too?”

Otabek laughed. Yuri liked the sound. It was deep but understated, and Yuri got the feeling that Otabek didn’t laugh very often. Yuri sat on the bed and Otabek shifted back to make more space.

“Well, I wouldn’t say no to kicking another snake away from you.” The words came out of Otabek’s mouth before he could stop them. Was that too much? His face began to heat but luckily his skin would keep the blush from being too noticeable.

On the other bed, Leo giggled quietly and grabbed Guang Hong’s hand and quietly led him out of the room. Guang Hong blushed but Leo didn’t notice. Otabek looked up at the movement but Yuri waved them away and Otabek’s attention was captured yet again.

“For me? Not for anyone else?” Yuri said cheekily.

Time for honesty again. “Only you.” Otabek replied.

“Oh.” Now it was Yuri’s turn to blush, not expecting such a straightforward answer. “But why me in particular?”

“I like you.”

“Um, huh? You barely know me!” Yuri raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

“Well, I’ve often admired you from afar. Our departments are close to each other, so I would see you walking to class or grabbing lunch nearby.”

“Now you’re sounding like a stalker.” Yuri said, sticking his tongue out playfully. “But you’re a cute stalker, so I guess it’s fine.”

Otabek huffed and looked away, embarrassed yet again. Yuri laughed and put his arms on Otabek’s bent knees. Otabek turned to face Yuri again.

“Now we can get to know each other properly, without the stalking.” He suggested. “I think you’re a pretty cool person too.” Yuri grinned at Otabek, who smiled back.

“So, are we going to be friends or not, Mr. Stalker?”

“I wasn’t a stalker-but yeah, of course.” They shook hands, oddly formal for a declaration of friendship. Yuri then hopped out of bed.  
“As nice as this was,” he made his way to the door, “I need some beauty sleep.”

At the mention of sleep, Otabek yawned. The exhaustion of the dig, not to mention the snake-induced adrenaline rush, did not contribute to a well-rested Otabek.

“Okay,” Otabek replied, getting up and opening the door for Yuri, who chuckled at the gesture.

“Good night, Otabek!”

“Good night, Yuri.”

Otabek left the door open a crack, so Leo would know he could come back in and prepared for bed. In no time at all, Leo strode back in, closing the door firmly behind him.

“So? So? How did it go?” Leo asked excitedly, as he also changed into his pajamas and arranged his stuff for tomorrow.

“It went well. If all I needed to get Yuri’s friendship was kick a deadly snake, then I would have done that ages ago.” He lay back in his bed, a wistful expression on his face. In the privacy of the shared room, Otabek didn’t mind letting more of his expressions show, even with Leo there.

Leo had a big smile on his face, not that Otabek could see. “Well, I’m glad it’s working out for you man, I’m really happy for you.”

“Thanks Leo.” And then Leo had to ruin it.

“So just in case, a sock is a universal code-”

“Leo!”


	8. Humerus

The group quickly fell into a routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, and dig. Break, dig some more, and have lunch. After lunch, exercise the mind with hieroglyphics class, then dinner and sleep. It was soon Friday and there was an undercurrent of excitement in the air. Unlike other digs where students worked half of the day on Saturdays, here Lilia and Yakov gave them the whole weekend, but they could go in and dig if they wanted to.

By this point, 2 more skeletons had been uncovered, and the first had been completely exposed, documented, and photographed. Otabek had been working on this skeleton all week and was surprised at the level of detail that went into recording the location, orientation, and photography of the individual. Lilia had finally relented and allowed Yuri to come back and work on the skeleton once Otabek showed his inexperience with the documentation. It didn’t help that Yuri had managed to find both of the new skeletons earlier that week as well, mitigating the punishment she tried to impose. Every time she moved him to a different spot, Yuri would find another individual. This year, Yuri was really a skeleton magnet, the other students joked.

Once done with the documentation, both Yuri and Otabek took the skeleton out of the group and put the bones into labeled bags for washing. Then Lilia motioned them over to another collapsible shelter that was put up just the day before.

“Wash the bones in here and set them on the trays to dry. Don’t expose them to the sun or else they will become damaged and bleach. You can get water from a small spigot near the house.”

Yuri and Otabek sat down inside and began to wash bones. It was not as arduous as digging, especially because they were both out of the sun. It also allowed him to spend more time with Yuri, who at the moment was teaching him all about the skeleton.

“So you’re holding a humerus right now, you can tell that much right?”

“Yuri, I do know what a humerus looks like,” Otabek replied, waving it around slightly for emphasis. He flipped it over and began to carefully scrub at the other end.

“Do you know the basic anatomy terms?”

“I study languages.”

“So that’s a no. Okay, Using the femur he was washing, Yuri pointed at the end Otabek was washing. “That bit, with the round knob, it the proximal end. If it’s closer to the center of the body it’s the proximal end. If it’s farther away, it’s distant, so it’s the distal end.”

“Okay.”

“So what side humerus are you holding?”

Otabek examined it critically. For all that he told Yuri he knew what a humerus looked like; he never really studied one in detail. Keeping what Yuri just said in mind, Otabek orientated the bone correctly and compared it to his own arms. Well, that rounded knob bit had to connect to his shoulder right? So that would make it…

“A left?”

“Yep, you’re right! You can also tell by the olecranon fossa which is always down, posterior technically, and the epicondyles. The medial one, which is the one closer to the center of your body tends to be bigger than the lateral one-” Yuri continued and finally stopped when he had described every major feature on that one bone. There were a lot. “That’s a really nice one to start with; there’s hardly any broken bits. So, did you get all that?”

Truth be told, a lot of that went over Otabek’s head, but it was wonderful to watch Yuri talk about it. He was so animated and enthusiastic.

“Not all of it, but it’s clear you really love this stuff.”

“It’s so cool! There’s so many things you can find out by studying bones! I can teach you, if you want.” Yuri ended, almost a little shy. He went back to his washing almost absently, as if he was trying to show that it didn’t really matter if Otabek accepted his offer or not.

“I am mostly here for the language, but it would be nice to have a basic understanding of this stuff.” Otabek offered.

“I was going to ask, why were you here if not for the bones?” Yuri replied, looking up at Otabek.

Otabek set the humerus down and picked up another bone. He wasn’t quite sure what it was but started washing anyway.

“Yakov is one of the foremost Egyptian language professors. I wanted the opportunity to learn from the best.”

“Wow,” Yuri paused for a second. “That’s, actually pretty impressive. This program is designed for the osteology, and the language is really an aside but you took it for the language anyway. That’s an ulna by the way. You see that hook on the end? That connects to the olecranon fossa on the humerus.”

Otabek picked up the humerus and stuck the hook into the depression on the back, he then moved the bones like a lever, the same way they would move in life. The hook fit perfectly in the depression. Otabek then set the bones down and moved his own elbow experimentally.

“Weird huh?” said Yuri. “That your bones look like these? But inside you?”

“Yeah, it’s a little weird.” Otabek agreed.

They went on in that vein for a while, cleaning bones and Yuri teaching Otabek about them, until Otabek finally plucked up the courage to ask Yuri a question. Even though they had been chatting on and off this week, Otabek wasn’t sure what Yuri would think about his proposal.  
“So Yuri, do you have any plans for the weekend?”

“Hm, me? Not really. Do you?”

“Well-wait, this weekend is the trip, isn’t it?”

Yuri absentmindedly tapped twirled an ulna around his fingers as he thought. “Oh yeah!” He set it down and picked up another bone, examining it closely. “It’s usually not this early, but we have a weekend touristy-type trip to ride camels out into the desert and sleep in tents and stuff.” He waved a hand dismissively but Otabek’s interest was piqued.

The trip description Lilia gave them was very vague but now that Yuri described it, it sounded nice, almost, dare he think it, romantic? He and Yuri, sitting outside, gazing up at the bright star filled sky. It sounded wonderful. And then he could grab Yuri’s hand and-Otabek shook his head to clear his fanciful thoughts. Clearly Yuri was not enthused about the trip.

“I take it you don’t want to go?” Otabek said, turning over a bone in his hands. It looked like part of a long bone but the ends were missing. He held it up to Yuri and raised an eyebrow.

“Not really, I’d rather be in the lab. Turn that over,” said Yuri. “Look at the shape, it’s pretty triangular and judging by size, it’s a tibia. You know whenever you bump your shin into something right? The part you’re hitting is the sharp bit your thumb is on right now.”

“Oh, that’s pretty cool,” answered Otabek. He looked at the apparent tibia in a new light. “No wonder it hurts so much.”

“Right? Bones are awesome!” replied Yuri. “Pass that over, it goes in this pile.”

Otabek handed him the bone. When Yuri looked up to take it, Otabek spoke, dredging up any last bits of confidence he possessed. “It’ll be different if we hang out though, right?” Otabek’s voice trailed off. That was presumptuous of him, but Yuri did seem happy around him. Or maybe it was just the bones.

Otabek looked down, thoroughly embarrassed. He grabbed another bone at random. It looked vaguely familiar. However, Yuri’s voice interrupted his musings.

“Sure.” Yuri nodded, his face oddly red. He fiddled with the bones on the table. “If it’s you, it might even be bearable,” he joked.

Otabek felt the corners of his lips turn up and Yuri’s face got redder.

“Anyway!” Yuri said loudly. “What are you holding there?”

“Uh, a humerus?” Otabek guessed.

“Do you remember how to side them?” Yuri insisted.

“Maybe…” Otabek turned the bone over, the depression on the end downwards and placed the humerus on top of his own arm. He then switched the bone over to the other arm. “Left? ‘Cause that part on the end sticks out more than on the other side.”

Yuri laughed. “Terribly scientific but correct! Those bits that stick out are called condyles...”

 

Over dinner, Lilia describe the trip in more detail and instructed them to pack an overnight bag only. In the morning they would all pile into the van and drive back to Minya and then from there meet up with the guides for the trip.

“Wow! I’ve never ridden a camel!” Guang Hong said, as he, Leo, and Otabek walked back to their room. Guang Hong followed them in and sat on the bed at the other two began to pack. Otabek emptied his backpack and put in a change of clothes and toiletries. Now what else did he need?

“I’ve ridden horses,” offered Leo. “But not camels. How different do you think they would be?”

Otabek shrugged. “No idea. I haven’t ridden either. It can’t be that dangerous though.” He replied practically.

Leo sighed and Guang Hong looked a little relieved. “You have a point.” said Leo.

“Maybe they’re led on a rein or something; I’ve seen people do that with horses at petting zoos.” Guang Hong said.

“You’re probably right. Too bad won’t be able to make the camel giddyup!”

Otabek raised an eyebrow. “And that’s why they’ll probably be on a rein.”

“Spoilsport.”

Done with packing, they quickly set their phones to charge, got ready for bed, and slept, letting the rest melt away their fatigue and ease their sore muscles from digging.


	9. The Trip

Yuri had to kick Victor and Yuuri out of the door in the morning when it came time for everyone to board the bus. The two lovebirds were distracted by saying tearful goodbyes to Makkachin, who was staying with Yuuri’s family while Victor was away.

“Makkachin, we will miss you!”

“We already miss you!”

“You’ve been gone for a week already, Makkachin must be celebrating your absence,” Yuri sniped. As if on cue, Makkachin let out a happy bark through the video call. “See? I was right. Now, get out so we can go!”

“No, that can’t be true, right Makka!” insisted a teary-eyed Victor. The dog barked happily in response.

“You seem oddly hurried to leave,” commented Yuuri.

Yuri straightened as if electrified. “What, who me? No way!”

“Usually you’re the last one out the door and now you’re hurrying us out!”

Yuri huffed and stopped trying to rush them out the door. “Well, the sooner we leave, the sooner we get back right?”

“I suppose.” Yuuri turned to Victor. “C’mon, say bye-bye to Makka!”

“Goodbye my deares-” A quick glance as Yuuri, “-my second-most dearest creature in this whole wide world!” More barking was heard in response and then Victor hung up. He looked around and hopped over the threshold. “Let’s go you slowpokes! We’ll never get there if you just stand in the door!”

“Victor!” Yuri shouted angrily and quickly ran out after him.

Yuuri just grabbed Victor and Yuri’s bags along with his own and followed.

 

One hour and a half drive later, they entered Minya. The Nile was on their right and lining its banks were lines of deep green vegetation. The van drove past scattered palms, and various pale, plaster buildings. In the distance, on a cliff face, there was a series of white letters that spelled out El Minya.

“Hey, that looks like the Hollywood sign!” Leo pointed out.

Quickly driving through the city, they crossed into its outskirts, with the beginnings of the sandy Saharan dunes visibly growing larger. The van turned off onto a dirt road and stopped at a small collection of tan buildings, with a sign that proclaimed it to be the Akhenaten.

They all piled out of the van, Mila taking pictures and dragging Isabella into selfies, all while lamenting the fact that she had no WiFi to send the pictures to Sara. Leo and Guang Hong chatted quietly and Yuri found himself wandering towards Otabek, who was staring out into the desert.

Yuri nudged him with his elbow. Otabek jumped, startled. Yuri laughed. “Ready? It gets pretty boring if you’ve done it before.”

“The desert is very beautiful,” Otabek said simply.

Yuri looked back at him skeptically and looked out over the desert. He wiped sweat from his forehead. Behind them was the city, full of buildings and the bright blue and green of the Nile and verdant foliage. Life, in other words. Ahead of them, the green cut abruptly into sand, that made circular eddies in the air as it whipped around them and their clothes.

The sun shone brightly down upon them both and upon the sand, making it almost shimmer and appear to glitter. From the dunes emerged shadows, throwing some of the wind created-sand patterns into sharp relief. Yuri breathed deeply. The sky was a deep cerulean blue, with no cloud in sight. A bird flew above them, casting a large winged shadow upon the sand. That would have been impossible to see closer to the river. It was, simple. Straightforward, in other words. Very much like Otabek, Yuri was beginning to see.

“I think I see what you mean,” Yuri replied in a soft voice.

By an unspoken agreement, they met each other’s eyes and silently walked into the hotel, small smiles on both their faces.

 

After a refreshing lunch at the hotel, they all followed Lilia outside to a small pen which had a number of camels standing or sitting in it. They looked pretty docile and were being tended to by various brightly robed women wearing hijabs. One of them, in pink robes, walked up to Lilia.

“Peace be upon you,” she greeted in Arabic.

Lilia responded in the same language, “Upon you be peace.”

The woman switched to English and addressed the whole group. “Greetings and welcome to Minya. You may call me Naima. My girls and I,” she gestured behind her to the other women and the camels, “will take you out into the Sahara and spend the night out in tents. You will ride these camels attached on a rein with one of us walking alongside. Does anyone have any questions?”

Guang Hong raised his hand shyly. “How long is the ride?”

Naima nodded kindly. “It is a mere two hours to get there and two hours to return.”

“Okay,” Guang Hong said. “That sounds like a lot,” he whispered to Leo.

“It can’t be that bad,” Leo reasoned.

Naima did a quick headcount and beckoned one of the girls over. She was wearing a gold embroidered green tunic with wide brown pants and her hair was plaited tightly across her head. Naima spoke to her quickly in Arabic and the girl walked away from the group.

“Please wait here while we prepare the camels.” Naima instructed.

One by one, the camels were led out and rope bridles were attached with a long rope leading from each one that was connected to the camel in front. There were ten camels and these were put into two lines. But there were eleven people on the trip. The woman Naima had spoken to returned from around the corner, leading another camel.

Yuri’s eyes perked up. This camel had one hump like all the others, but its fur was shaved into a pattern reminiscent of tiger stripes. Yuri’s eyes had gone wide and he immediately started snapping pictures of the camel.

“Otabek, let’s take a selfie with it!” Otabek let himself be dragged along as the camel was pulled into its place in line with the others. The woman holding the camel laughed at Yuri’s evident enthusiasm and whispered in accented English. “This is a racing camel.”

“A racing camel? That’s so cool! I want to ride this one!” Yuri said. Lilia shook her head, exasperated.

The women were fitting the camels with layers of brightly colored blankets and a metal frame that went over the hump with a handle in the front. The saddle, Otabek assumed. Then a thought occurred to him. Those frames...did not look terribly comfortable. More blankets were piled on top. Hopefully that would help.

Seeing as Yuri had picked his camel, Otabek picked the one right behind that one. It had dark brown, shaggy fur and blue and grey blankets on its hump. Everyone else quickly stood next to a sitting camel and then paused, waiting for the first person to climb on.

Lilia, at the front of the other camel line quickly hopped into the saddle and barely moved when the camel got up, first on its hind legs, causing Lilia to tilt dramatically forward, and then on its front legs.

Leo’s eyes widened and he looked a little concerned. “Um, camels are very different from horses,” he said to Otabek. Otabek nodded.

The Russians swiftly clambered on, having done this before, which left Otabek, Leo, and Guang Hong. Well, if everyone else could do it, and Yuri was watching, Otabek gripped the metal handle and tossed one leg over.

It was very different from a horse. Otabek had said that he didn’t know how to ride a horse and he didn’t, but he had sat on one before when he was a child. The saddle had been wide but smooth. Here, it was different. The metal frame was narrow and the blankets were not cushioning as much as he had hoped. The metal bars dug into his pelvis. Just sitting on it was fine, but Otabek was sure it would become uncomfortable once the camel started to move.

It was worse when the camel stood up. The hind legs went up first and Otabek held on for dear life, not wanting to embarrass himself by falling off the camel before they even started. He was tilted forward and could feel himself starting to slip. Luckily, the other legs then came up and Otabek settled horizontally. He sighed and tried not to think about getting off the camel in a few hours.

Once they were all on, they set off. The women led the two lines of camels and Naima waved as they departed towards the desert. They were travelling at a walking pace and the women up front chatted amiably as they ambled forward.

After a short while, Yuri turned around on his saddle, not moving his hips but twisting his waist so he could look back at Otabek. Otabek absently noted Yuri’s flexibility. Yuri pulled out his phone and grinned as he took a picture of Otabek, who was still gripping the metal bar with white-knuckled fists.

“Your expression!” Yuri teased, laughing.

From the other camel line, Mila was shushing Victor. “Shhh! Yuri is making friends, don’t embarrass him!”

Otabek was not having a good time. The camel was shaking and he thought that he only had to worry about tilting when the camel was sitting. But he had forgotten about one thing: sand dunes. As soft as sand is, walking up and down the dunes was precarious because first they were tilting back and then tilting forward as the camel slowly plodded along. Yuri was clearly enjoying Otabek’s discomfort. Otabek tried to glare back but it was ruined by the camel slipping slightly on the sand and the whole saddle shifting unexpectedly. Otabek’s eyes widened comically and he heard the shutter sound of Yuri’s phone.

“At least someone’s having fun,” he muttered. Truth be told, he wasn’t upset, but the sooner he got off this thing, the better. He was going to be so sore tomorrow from gripping the saddle frame so hard. Yuri turned back after a while and carefully tucked his phone away.

Travelling like this, with the strong sun overhead, Otabek tried to imagine being a trader from thousands of years ago, crossing an unchanging desert in hopes of reaching the Nile to exchange goods. He was impressed with their efforts and wondered how they navigated back then. Compared to what they were doing right now, their trip was practically luxurious and very safe. Though Otabek was sure that camel saddles hadn’t changed too much in the ensuing time.

They had long left any signs of modern civilization behind and crossed endless dunes in a path that only their guides seemed to know. Eventually they crossed a particularly tall dune and spotted a group of dark tents, partially hidden in a large sand valley. Surrounding the tents was a tall line of dunes and the camels went down a small gap between the dunes to reach the camp.


	10. Starstruck

They finally got off the camels and were greeted by a man coming from the group of tents. Otabek was infinitely relieved to get off that unbalanced creature but dreaded tomorrow morning when he would have to get back on. Maybe he could just walk back.

“Welcome, welcome!” the man greeted. “I am Yanis. Come in, come in!” The tents were arranged in a large circle. Large weaved bolts of cloth made up the tents, held up by wooden poles. The fabrics were predominantly red or blue, with brighter colors weaved in complex geometric patterns. Inside the circle of tents, there were other people present as well, the ones with cameras and Western clothing easily identifiable as tourists and a few turbaned men and robed women as well, who busied themselves with preparations.

“That is for dinner,” Yanis pointed at a double tent with open flaps. “And this is your quarters,” he pointed at two other dark blue tents. “I will leave you to get settled. Bathrooms are outside.” He paused, “Do not worry; we have a little building with bathrooms.”

Opening the flap, the students set their stuff down on each of a series of small straw-filled cots, layered with blankets and a pillow at one end.

“This isn’t exactly the Hilton,” Leo joked.

Guang Hong laughed, “It’s more authentic! Besides, haven’t you ever wanted to sleep on a bed of straw?”  
Leo flopped down on the bed and immediately got up again. “Ow! Not when they’re not springy I haven’t!”

Otabek tested the bed. It was very firm, but not too bad. He turned to Yuri who claimed the bed next to him. Yuri was grinning.

“Let’s go sandsurfing!”

 

They headed out, followed by Guang Hong, Leo, Isabella, and Mila. Yuri ducked into the big tent and came out holding a snowboard?

“A snowboard?” asked Leo. “How even, we’re in a desert!” He exclaimed, raising his arms to indicate all the sand around them.

“We still have some time until dinner, so are you coming or not?” Yuri asked Otabek, ignoring Leo completely.

Otabek nodded and followed Yuri outside the ring of tents, where they began to climb one of the higher dunes that ringed the campsite. The others followed along behind him. The dunes were somewhat steep but the sand was the real issue. It was so soft that their footsteps sunk up to the ankle and it took a lot of effort to get to the top.

“Watch this!” shouted Yuri once he and Otabek reached the top. Without strapping himself in (the straps looked broken anyway) Yuri hopped onto the board and let gravity bring him down the other side of the dune. Yuri shouted out in delight, “Whoo!” and after a few seconds, the sand evened out and Yuri lost his balance, tumbling off the board. His delighted shouts were audible from the top of the dune still.

“Me next!” called out Mila. “Bring the board back up!”

“That looks really fun!” said Guang Hong. He noticed the glint in Leo’s eyes. “Do you know how to snowboard?”

“Of course! During the winter my parents would drive us all up the mountain and I learned with my siblings.” And because Yuri was still making his way back up the dune, “I bet I could stay on the board all the way down.”

“Oh really?” Guang Hong’s smile grew mischievous. “Then let’s make a bet.”

Leo hesitated and Guang Hong pounced, “Unless you don’t think you can do it, of course.”

“I can!” defended Leo. “What are the terms?”  
Guang Hong smirked.

 

It was Mila’s turn, then Isabella’s, and then Otabek’s, with Yuri giving him a thumbs up from the sidelines. Isabella subtly elbowed Mila, who was about to comment. They both hid their smiles behind their hands from the sidelines.

Otabek gave Yuri a shaky thumbs up back and leaned forward on the board. He slid slowly at first, and then it felt almost too fast and then it was over. As the ground flattened out it got bumpier and Otabek felt the board stop and not him. He tumbled off the board and landed in the soft sand, luckily far from the one scrubby, thorny bush that still grew among the sand. The sand was surprising soft, very different from normal beach sand. It was also a deep orange-reddish color, accentuated by the sun that had begun to set in front of them. Otabek was grinning as he came back up; sandsurfing was really fun!

He handed the board to Leo who looked strangely determined and sat down next to Yuri on the dune.

“Did you like it?”

“It’s fun.”

“The only enjoyable part of this trip really. Too bad there isn’t a snowboard at the site.”

“Too bad.” echoed Otabek. He turned his head to watch Leo’s progress. He knew Leo snowboarded with his family, so maybe he would stay on?

Leo put his feet in the slots and was briefly at a loss once he realized that the straps didn’t actually work. “Well then.”

“Go Leo!” cheered Guang Hong. Leo mock-glared back at him. Huh, maybe there was something going on, Otabek thought absently.

Leo steeled himself and pushed off hard, sliding down much faster than the others. He managed to stay on pretty well, angling his body and bending his knees to adjust to the board. It was all going well until it flattened out. Unlike snow, sand doesn’t harden with pressure and the smooth ride became very bumpy very quickly. Leo tried to adjust with the board but it slowed down too fast and Leo tumbled off, right into that thorny bush Otabek had noticed earlier.

“Leo! Are you okay?”

A painful sounding “Ow” was heard from below. Guang Hong and Otabek ran down the dune and pulled Leo away from the bush, carefully peeling the spiky thorns from his skin, leaving behind little pinpricks of blood.

“Is he bleeding?” Isabella called down.

“A little bit!” Otabek shouted back.

“I’ll get the first aid kit,” she replied and dashed off, sliding in the soft sand.

Yuri wanted to laugh at the incident but seeing as Leo was Otabek’s friend and Yuri wanted to be friends with Otabek, he refrained. Mila took this opportunity to sidle up next to him, once it was apparent that Leo was not seriously injured. From the top of the dune, Leo could be heard lamenting about losing a bet, of all things.

“So,” she began.

“So?” Yuri replied, looking over at her.

“You and Otabek huh?”

His eyes narrowed. “Me and Otabek what?”

MIla twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “He’s pretty hot, y’know.”

“Back off, hag!”

Mila laughed. “I’m not going after your boy, Yuri. On the contrary, I’m happy for you.”

Yuri blushed at Mila’s insinuation. “We’re just friends!”

“Suuuure,” Mila said, dragging the word out far longer than necessary, in Yuri’s opinion.

 

Guang Hong was pulling some thorns out of Leo’s hair.

“You were saying?” he teased gently.

Otabek unwrapped his loose scarf that he was using to shade himself from the sun and began to bat at the thin layer of sand that covered Leo. It would most likely itch like crazy if the sand got into the wounds.

The trio made their way up the dune, trying to keep the sand off of Leo with little success. Yuri dashed down and grabbed the forgotten snowboard and followed them back. It was nearly dinnertime anyway.

Isabella met them at the camp entrance.

“Lilia wants to know what happened,” she explained, as her hands were empty.

Guang Hong and Otabek promptly dropped Leo’s arms and they each took a step back.

“You’re on your own,” said Guang Hong.

Otabek nodded in agreement and let himself be pulled away by Yuri to put the snowboard away.

Leo turned fearful eyes towards the door to Lilia’s tent. Maybe he should have just stayed in that bush.

 

Dinner was lively, accompanied by Egyptian music with drums and a lyre. There was even a dancing portion after dinner and Mila, Isabella, and Georgi danced together while Victor and Yuuri also got up but were both in a world of their own. Guang Hong and a now covered in band-aids Leo sat at the table, hands entwined beneath it. It was at this point that Yuri grabbed Otabek’s hand and pulled him out of the tent, moving one of the flaps aside and slipping through.

While at dinner, the sun had fully set, although the moon had yet to rise. There was a spotlight that shone light down into the camp but Yuri led them away from that, past the point where they had surfed earlier. Once they got past the ring of tall dunes, the light was no longer visible and a profound darkness settled around them. Yuri and Otabek pulled out their phones and walked a little farther before settling on a random dune and sitting down.

Suddenly turning their phone lights off plunged them back into the pitch black darkness. After a minute or two, their eyes adjusted but the darkness remained the same. They were still holding hands. Otabek squeezed Yuri’s hand and Yuri squeezed back. It was dark enough that they couldn’t even see each other.

“I hope you remember the way we came,” Otabek said mildly. He was not concerned, not at all. Well, maybe a little.

Yuri gave an almost nervous-sounding laugh. “Of course I do; it was that way.” Otabek heard some shifting and assumed Yuri was pointing back the way they came. He nodded in response, realized that Yuri would not see that and answered in the affirmative. Then, he remembered why they were out there and looked up, lying back on the sand and pulling Yuri gently down with him.

Yuri was slightly startled. “Woah!” and then a soft “Wow,” was heard. They were looking up at the stars. The darkness around them lightened slightly as they looked up. Countless bright dots lay scattered above their heads, like so many grains of sand blown across the desert. The pattern they made was random, but there were so many stars that there didn’t appear to be a blank patch of sky anywhere. Some stars were large and bright, others small and barely visible. There was no sound other than their breaths, no light other than the faint light from the stars. A small light breeze passed over them, just enough to make being outside comfortable.

“There’s so many of them,”

“I’ve never seen so many before either.”

“What’s that whitish path thing that crosses through the sky?” Yuri asked.

“That’s the Milky Way I think,” Otabek replied. “It’s usually so faint but here it’s pretty bright.”

“Wow,” Yuri repeated. “I’ve never seen it before. I mean, you always know it exists but seeing it is completely different.”

“Yeah,” Otabek agreed. They lay there peacefully for many long minutes.

“I think I saw a shooting star,” remarked Otabek.

“Oh! Where?”

“It disappeared. But it looked like a thin moving streak. You can also wish on them.”

“Really?” Even though Otabek couldn’t see him, he felt Yuri come to attention and scan the sky avidly. Then a thought occurred to Yuri, “Wait, what did you with for then?”

But Otabek was ready. “If I told you, then it won’t come true.” In the privacy of his own mind, Otabek thought that his life couldn’t get much better. Here he was, holding hands with Yuri and looking up at the beautiful stars. When he saw the shooting star, his fanciful mind conjured up a silly wish. There was no way he was telling Yuri; it was about him too. Thankfully, he had the excuse ready.

“Aww, fine, I’ll find my own shooting star then,” Yuri replied, mock-grumpily. He shifted closer and Otabek felt the warmth of Yuri’s arm and then its weight against his own side.

“Oh, there goes another one,”

“What? Where did it go?” Yuri wriggled in frustration and Otabek chuckled quietly.

Not quietly enough however.

“You laughing at me Otabek?” Yuri said.

“A little,” Otabek answered truthfully.

“Hmph, well I still have those pictures of you on that camel so I guess we’re even,” Yuri teased back.

Otabek sat up, sand falling off his body in waves, not that either of them could see. Yuri sat up as well and they faced each other, knees touching.

“I would appreciate it if you could delete those,” Otabek said.

“Nope, never. Was that your wish?” Yuri prodded.

“I will not tell you,” repeated Otabek.

“Boo,” protested Yuri.

The only thing that could make this moment utterly perfect would be being able to see Yuri’s face. Otabek was sure Yuri had an adorable pout right now. They both went quiet and Otabek decided to take a chance. If it didn’t work, he could blame it on the darkness. Slowly, Otabek brought his hand up, the one that wasn’t holding on to Yuri’s hand, towards where he though Yuri’s face was.

Yuri’s breath changed as Otabek found his cheek and traced his fingers down it. Otabek then brought his fingers to the side and traced the pout that adorned Yuri’s lips. Yuri’s breath caught.

“Otabek…” He felt his fingers move against Yuri’s lips as they formed the syllables of his name. Otabek brought his fingers and hand to rest against Yuri’s jaw, tracing its shape.

“Yuri,” Otabek whispered, their faces close enough now that their breaths intermingled, “May I kiss you?”   
In response, Yuri’s other hand grabbed his shirt and yanked him forward, lips crashing together.

Otabek’s world exploded into light.


End file.
